Romans 8:9

DISCOURSE: 1866THE SPIRIT’S WORK IN BELIEVERS

Romans 8:9. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

IN entering on this closing part of our subject, I feel peculiar difficulty, not from any want of scriptural and incontrovertible materials, but from the very nature of those materials which, being wholly of an experimental nature, can only commend themselves to those who, by actual experience, are qualified to judge of them. There are, as we all know, different kinds of life—vegetable, animal, and rational—each rising above the other, and each, in its order, evincing a manifest superiority above that which is below it. But there is a fourth kind of life, of which the Scripture speaks; viz. a spiritual life, which rises as far above the rest, as any one of them does above another. All have their proper powers, which, however, they cannot exceed. The vegetable life has productiveness, but no consciousness nor activity. The animal life has feeling, but no perception of the deductions of reason. The rational life apprehends moral truth; but forms no just conception of things which are spiritual. The spiritual life is exercised on things that are matters of pure revelation, which reason is not of itself able to apprehend.But I wish to guard against a common misapprehension respecting this spiritual life. It is by no means correct to speak of it as constituting a new sense; for then it would be a man’s misfortune only, and not his fault, if he did not possess it. But it is correct to say, that the spiritual man has a spiritual perception, which the natural man does not possess. The merely rational man has a film before his eyes; he views things through the medium of sense, and not of faith; and the medium through which he looks at objects, distorts them, if it do not altogether hide them from his sight. But in the spiritual man, the Holy Spirit, as “eye-salve,” clears away the film [Note: Revelation 3:18.], and enables him to discern things as they really are. Faith also assists him, by bringing remote objects with greater clearness to his mind. The power of the telescope to bring to our view things that are invisible to the naked eye, is well known. Now this is the office and effect of faith, which enables us, if I may so speak, to behold both God himself, and the hidden mysteries of God [Note: Hebrews 11:27.], and to obtain a clear perception of things which are altogether beyond the reach of the eye of sense. Hence it appears that the merely rational man labours under a twofold disadvantage in comparison of the spiritual man: he looks through a dense medium of sense, which distorts, or altogether conceals, the objects before him; and he wants that peculiar glass of faith, which would present them truly, and bring them, if I may so say, directly upon the retina of his mind. This is what St. John means, when he says, “The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not [Note: John 1:5.];” and this is, in very explicit terms, declared by St. Paul to be a matter of universal experience [Note: 1 Corinthians 2:14-16.]. “The natural man (whoever he may be) receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him (being seen by him only in a distorted view): neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (and he wants that spiritual perception, whereby alone he can truly apprehend them). But he that is spiritual, judgeth all things (having a clear and just perception of them); yet he himself is judged of no man (for it were a downright absurdity for a blind man to sit in judgment on one who sees); For who (i.e. what merely natural man) hath known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him (the spiritual man)? But we (we who are spiritual) have the mind of Christ” (and are, therefore, able to judge both ourselves and others).

But whilst, in order to guard against misapprehension, I speak thus, I well know that there are many, very many, in the midst of us, who can form the most accurate judgment of all we say, and who, if not in relation to every word, will yet, as a whole, set their seal to the truth of it; and, therefore, I hesitate not to lay before you what I verily believe to be in perfect accordance with God’s revealed will, though on a subject so recondite and mysterious.

I am not, however, without a consciousness, and with deep grief I utter it, that, under a profession of bringing forth only scriptural truth, some give vent to the veriest absurdities, talking about dreams and visions, and arrogating to themselves I know not what claims of preternatural endowments. But against all such fancies and conceits I would enter my most solemn protest. The truth of God, though elevated above reason, is in perfect accordance with reason; and by its reasonableness as a part of divine revelation would I wish every word that I utter to be tried. I ask nothing more than this; that as God, of his own sovereign will and pleasure, bestows on some greater natural gifts than on others, so he may act in reference to spiritual gifts: and that, as all our natural faculties are called forth into action by things visible, our hopes and fears, and joys and sorrows, being excited by them according to the interest we have in them, so our spiritual faculties may be called into action by things invisible, even by all the wonders of redeeming love, according as the blessings of redemption are manifested to the soul, and our interest in them is made the one subject of our present and prospective happiness.

Having premised thus much, I now come to shew, in the fourth and last place,

IV.

What the Holy Spirit will work in us when we are Christ’s. We must never forget that the Holy Spirit unites with the Lord Jesus Christ in the whole of his mediatorial office, though each sustains and executes in a more appropriate way that part which has been assigned him by the Father: and, if any of us be “washed, and justified, and sanctified, it is in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God [Note: 1 Corinthians 6:11.].” But it is the Spirit’s office to which I must confine myself: and whilst I address myself to this arduous and momentous subject, may the Lord Jesus Christ himself “be with us,” as he has promised [Note: Matthew 28:20.], and “baptize us with the Holy Ghost and with fire [Note: Matthew 3:11.],” to consume the dross that is within us [Note: Isaiah 4:4.], and to kindle in our hearts an inextinguishable flame of love towards his blessed name!

The Holy Spirit then will perform in us the offices of a Teacher, a Sanctifier, and a Comforter.

Let us view him first as a Teacher.

The young convert knows little beyond “the first principles of the oracles of God [Note: Hebrews 5:12.].” He is like a person just landed on a newly-discovered country, the beauty and riches of which he has yet to learn. But the Holy Spirit of Christ will open things to us, even as the Lord Jesus himself did when on earth to his Disciples, gradually, as we are able to bear them; and with increased knowledge, he will give us “senses proportionably exercised to discern good and evil [Note: Hebrews 5:14.],” and thus will “lead us on to perfection [Note: Hebrews 6:1.].” The fundamental doctrine of salvation by faith is known by us when we first come to Christ. But there is much which as yet is very indistinctly seen. For instance, the nature and difficulty of the Christian warfare is yet but very partially discovered. The deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of the human heart is but little known; (in fact, who but God can know it to its full extent [Note: Jeremiah 17:9.]) “the deceitfulness of sin [Note: Hebrews 3:13.]” also is by no means clearly discerned. As for “the devices of Satan [Note: 2 Corinthians 2:11.],” the young believer is still “ignorant of them” to a great extent; and of “the wiles” whereby that subtle adversary deludes the souls of men, he has scarcely any conception [Note: Ephesians 6:11.]. Little does he imagine what power that old serpent has to “beguile the minds of the simple [Note: Romans 16:18.],” and “to corrupt them, even as he deceived our mother Eve, from the simplicity that is in Christ [Note: 2 Corinthians 11:3.].” Armour is provided for him against that great enemy of souls [Note: Ephesians 6:13.]; but he knows not yet how to use it, so as to defeat him, who is but too justly called Apollyon [Note: Revelation 9:11.].” He has in his hand “the word, which is the sword of the Spirit [Note: Ephesians 6:17.];” but he knows not how to use it with effect: “he is unskilful in the word of righteousness [Note: Hebrews 5:13.].” It is not till after many conflicts that he learns, what are the parts on which he is most open to assault, what are the stratagems whereby that wily adversary most successfully ensnares him, and what are the means by which he is to ensure the victory over all his assailants. In the spiritual warfare, as in that which is temporal, experience can be gained only by active service. There is however this difference between them: in temporal warfare, proficiency is the result of human ingenuity; whereas, in the spiritual warfare, it is the Spirit of God alone that can inspire us with the knowledge and address, whereby we are to vanquish the legions of spirits that are combined against us [Note: Ephesians 6:17-18.].

But, further, the Holy Spirit will also discover to us the fulness and excellency of the Gospel salvation. The plan of salvation is, as I have already acknowledged, understood by the veriest babe in Christ. But the excellency of it will be more and more deloped to him, till, from the obscurity of the morning dawn, he attains the fuller light of the meridian sun; according as it is written by the prophet; “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his goings forth are prepared as the morning [Note: Hosea 6:3.];” and as Solomon also has assured us, “The path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day [Note: Proverbs 4:18.].” The young Christian knows little of that covenant to which all our salvation must ultimately be traced; the covenant entered into between the Father and the Son for the redemption of our fallen race; the covenant, wherein Christ, on the one part, undertook to stand in our place and stead, and to endure, in his own person, the penalty which he had incurred; and the Father, on the other part, both gave unto him a chosen people [Note: John 17:2; John 17:6; John 17:9; John 17:11-12; John 17:24.], and engaged to accept them as righteous, on account of what he should do and suffer for them. “This covenant is ordered in all things, and sure:” and the blessings of it are all treasured up for us in Christ, our great head and representative [Note: Colossians 2:9.], and are thus secured to us for ever: as it is written, “Our life is hid with Christ in God: and therefore, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we also shall appear with him in glory [Note: Colossians 3:3-4.]. These blessings, too, are to be received from him [Note: John 1:16.] simply “through the exercise of faith, that thus they may be sure to all the seed [Note: Romans 4:16.];” for no human being could ever have hoped to possess them, if they had been committed to any other depository, or if the attainment of them had been suspended on the strength and fidelity of man.

To unfold these things to the soul is the Holy Spirit’s office. For this end he is given to us as “an unction that shall abide with us,” and that shall, to a certain degree, by the clearness of his communications, supersede the necessity for human instruction [Note: 1 John 2:27.]; and, being given to us for this end, he enables the believer gradually to dive more and more deeply into this mystery, which the human eye cannot penetrate, at least not so penetrate as to behold its excellency [Note: Ephesians 1:17-18.]. These are among “the deep things of God, which the Spirit alone searches,” even the things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived, but which are revealed to the soul by the Spirit of God [Note: 1 Corinthians 2:9-10.], and can be known in no other way [Note: 1 Corinthians 2:11-12.]. True, these things are written plainly in the inspired volume, even as the figures are engraven with the utmost possible plainness on the sun-dial: but both in the one case, and in the other, are they written in vain, till light is vouchsafed from heaven to shine upon them: then only does the gnomon perform its office in the one; and then only is the end answered for the illumination of the soul in the other. Till that take place, “the natural man, how learned soever he be in other respects, will never discern aright the things of the Spirit of God: they will be no better than foolishness unto him.”

The believer, thus taught of God, has a knowledge of the Deity, of which he had scarcely the slightest notion before. What astonishing views has he of the wisdom of God in devising such a plan, whereby God’s own justice might be duly satisfied, and his mercy flow down to man in perfect consistency with all his other attributes! When he contemplates the goodness of God, thus exercised; the holiness of God, thus honoured; and the truth of God, thus kept inviolate; and all the perfections of God, thus harmonizing and glorified; and all this for him; he is perfectly astounded; he knows not how to believe it; it seems to him all as “a mere parable [Note: Ezekiel 20:49.].” But seeing how suited all this is to his necessities, and how sufficient for his wants, and that, in any other way than this, he could find no more ground of hope for himself than for the fallen angels, he is forced to believe it; he sees that it is revealed in the Bible as with a sun-beam, and established by evidence that admits not of the slightest doubt; and when he sees further, that it has a transforming efficacy upon all who receive it, he is constrained to receive it as the very truth of God, and to say, “Lord, to whom else shall we go? Thou, even thou only, hast the words of eternal life;” and “we believe and are sure, that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God [Note: John 6:68-69.].”

I merely give these things as samples only of what the Holy Spirit will effect in the believing soul as a Teacher; for the same powerful agency is extended to every part of divine truth, and every part, also, of Christian experience, seeing that he is expressly promised to “guide us into all truth [Note: John 16:13.],” that so, by his effectual teaching, “we may know all things [Note: 1 John 2:20.].”

But we will next consider his operations, under the office of a Sanctifier. In this view we speak of him in our catechism, as “sanctifying the elect people of God.” In fact, all that he does as a Teacher, is in order to his work as a Sanctifier. Does he “reveal Christ in us,” so as to give us brighter views of his person, and a more comprehensive knowledge of his work and offices? it is, that “we, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, may be changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord [Note: 2 Corinthians 3:18.].” Does he further enable us to “comprehend the breadth and length, and depth and height, and to know with progressive clearness and certainty the love of Christ which passeth knowledge? it is, that we may be thereby “filled with all the fulness of God [Note: Ephesians 3:18-19.].” With increasing knowledge he gives an increase of spiritual perception; and with that perception, a spiritual appetite; and with that appetite, a spiritual attainment; and this continues to advance, till “the soul with all its powers is brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ [Note: 2 Corinthians 10:5.].” I think the whole process, though above the conception of the highest archangel, may, for all practical purposes, be brought down to the apprehension of a child. Our blessed Lord compares it to the wind, which is mighty in operation, but visible only in its effects. “It blows when and where it listeth, but we cannot tell either whence it comes, or whither it goes [Note: John 3:8.];” yet of its agency we have no doubt whatever. The veriest child acknowledges it, whilst the wisest philosopher is unable adequately to explain it. The magnet would furnish us with a similar illustration of this truth; for its influence, if not rendered visible by actual experience, would not be credited. But there is another natural process which will give us a fuller, and, perhaps I may say, a more distinct, apprehension of this mysterious subject. A river flowing from its source in one current to the ocean, may serve to shew us the natural man, with all his faculties, both of body and mind, departing from God, and proceeding with fatal indifference and perseverance, till he is finally lost in that abyss from whence there is no return. But, within a certain distance from the sea, we may behold that same river arrested in its course by the tide, and returning with equal rapidity towards its fountain-head: and in that we may behold the sinner returning to his God. Even from the partial back-currents which are occasioned by local obstacles, we may behold the parallel yet more strikingly illustrated: for in either case, these may serve to shew, that, as in man’s departure from God there are some risings of compunction, and some little, though ineffectual, restraints, from the remonstrances of an accusing conscience; so, in the believer’s return to God, there are some remnants of corruption, which betray a want of that completeness of soul, which he will enjoy in a better world. But the point particularly to be noticed is, How is this change effected? How is it effected in the river? Is it through the power and instrumentality of man? No: it is by the invisible, but powerful, attraction of the moon. The operation of the moon is not seen but in its effects: yet it is not on that account denied: the effects are unquestionable; nor can they reasonably be traced to any other cause; at all events they cannot in the smallest possible degree be ascribed to man. And how is the change effected upon the souls of men? It is the Holy Spirit who operates upon them to bring them back to God. True, his operations are not seen, except in the effects produced by them: but those effects infinitely exceed all human power: and in the unerring word of God they are ascribed to the Holy Spirit, whose peculiar office it is, not only to regenerate us at first, but progressively to form us after the Divine image, and to render us meet for our heavenly inheritance [Note: Titus 3:3; Titus 3:5.]. That there are defects in the best of men is certain; but that only makes the analogy more complete. There are, and will be, intervening obstacles, that will, at some times, and under peculiar circumstances, interfere with the believer’s progress [Note: Romans 7:18-19.]: but these do not interrupt his general course, or give any just cause for questioning the influence under which he moves [Note: Romans 7:21-24.]. His habitual “walk is, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit [Note: Romans 8:1; Romans 8:5.].” We have said, that the work is progressive. He goes from grace to grace [Note: 2 Peter 3:18.], from victory to victory, “growing up into Christ in all things, till he arrive at the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ [Note: Ephesians 4:7; Ephesians 4:13.].” At first he is represented in the Scriptures as “a child, then as a young man, and then as a father [Note: 1 John 2:12-14.]:” and the work in his soul is compared to the corn, which appears first in “the blade, then in the ear, and then as the full corn in the ear [Note: Mark 4:28.].” These very comparisons shew, that the believer is not at first all that he will be at a future period: his heart will be more and more weaned from earthly things, and with more and more intensity be fixed on things above, till he is altogether “changed into the image of his God in righteousness and true holiness [Note: Ephesians 4:24.].” This advance towards maturity will be more or less visible to all around him. There will be in him more solidity, more uniformity, more consistency. His principles will be more and more commended to all around him by their efficacy to “beautify his soul [Note: Psalms 149:4.],” and to adorn his life [Note: 1 Peter 3:3-4.]. In a word, he will be renewed, not in his mind only, but “in the spirit of his mind [Note: Ephesians 4:23.],” and will become “an epistle of Christ known and read of all men,” an epistle not “written by any human hand, but by the Spirit of the living God [Note: 2 Corinthians 3:2-3.].” He will be in himself, and will constrain all who know him to acknowledge that he is, what the Scriptures emphatically call, “A man of God [Note: 2 Timothy 3:17.].”

And what is the result of all this? What, but that in and by the whole of this work, the Holy Spirit performs the office of a Comforter? Under this character, “the world know him not, neither can receive him: but believers do know him; for he dwelleth with them, and shall be in them [Note: John 14:16-17.]” throughout the whole of their earthly pilgrimage. Even at their first coming to Christ, the Holy Spirit, in some measure, dischargeth this office, speaking peace to their troubled consciences, and enabling them to rejoice in their unseen, but beloved Saviour [Note: 1 Peter 1:8.]. This was eminently conspicuous on the day of Pentecost, when the whole multitude of believers, who had just before been filled with terror, “ate their bread with gladness and singleness of heart, blessing and praising God [Note: Acts 2:46.].” But through the whole course of their future life, he carries on this work, revealing Christ more and more clearly to them, and applying the promises with sweet assurance to their souls. Hence the word so applied is said to “work by the power of the Spirit of God [Note: Romans 15:19.],” and to “come to men, not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance [Note: 1 Thessalonians 1:5.];” and the Holy Ghost himself is called “the Holy Spirit of promise [Note: Ephesians 1:13.],” because in this way he makes use of the promises for their good. Thus he performs the office of a Comforter towards Christ’s redeemed people: he gives them near “access to God” in prayer [Note: Ephesians 2:18.]; and in their supplications “helps their infirmities [Note: Rom 8:26 and Jude, ver. 20.],” and “makes intercession for them, and in them, according to the will of God [Note: Romans 8:27.].” He is in them a Spirit of adoption, enabling them to go to God with confidence, crying, Abba, Father [Note: Romans 8:15.]; and, “shedding abroad God’s love in their hearts [Note: Romans 5:5.],” he “witnesses with their spirits, that they are children of God [Note: Romans 8:16.].” In this way, also, he establishes them in Christ [Note: 2 Corinthians 1:21.], and “seals them unto the day of redemption [Note: 2 Corinthians 1:22. with Ephesians 1:17.],” and “is within them an earnest of their heavenly inheritance [Note: Eph 1:14].” “An earnest” is a part of a payment, and a pledge of the remainder; and such is the Holy Spirit in the believer’s soul, giving him already, in possession, a measure of the heavenly felicity, and assuring to him, in due season, the full and everlasting possession of it. In a season of affliction especially do the communications of his grace abound. We read of those who “received the word with much affliction, and joy of the Holy Ghost [Note: 1 Thessalonians 1:6.];” and “in proportion as any person’s afflictions abound, the Holy Ghost will make his consolations to abound” with still greater and more transcendent efficacy [Note: 2 Corinthians 1:5.].

It is worthy, however, of observation, that the comforts which he administers at an earlier, and at a more advanced period, are, for the most part, widely different; the one being rather of a tumultuous nature, the other more serene; the one more transient, the other more abiding; the one elevating the spirits of a man on account of the good that has accrued to him; the other humbling and abasing his soul, on account of his great unworthiness: the one is a fire recently kindled, in which there is a considerable mixture of flame and smoke; the other like a fire that has become bright and solid, and burns with an unobtrusive, but mighty, efficacy. In confirmation of what I have said, I need only add, that this is the very description which God himself has given us of his kingdom: that it “consists not in externals of any kind, but in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost [Note: Romans 14:17.].”

And now, will any one say that these blessings were peculiar to the apostolic age, and are not to be expected by us? What then is the meaning of that interrogation, which St. Paul addressed to the whole Corinthian Church, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you [Note: 1 Corinthians 3:16-17.]?” And, again, “Know ye not your ownselves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates [Note: 2 Corinthians 13:5.]?” Hence it is evident, that this is a truth, of which we must not only have the actual experience, but a consciousness also, that it is realized in us: and the man who questions it as a matter of Christian experience, has yet to learn the very first principles of the Christian faith: for even to the murderers of our Lord did St. Peter on the day of Pentecost announce, that this blessing should be theirs; and that too even to their latest posterity: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost: for the promise is to you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call [Note: Acts 2:38-39.].” In fact, this is the promise which was originally made to Abraham for himself and all his believing posterity, whether of the Jewish or Gentile world, even “the promise of the Spirit through faith [Note: Galatians 3:14.].”

This objection therefore being set aside, I confidently ask whether I have carried any one of these matters to excess, either requiring more than the Scriptures require, or promising more than the Scriptures promise? I can truly say, that I have exercised all possible caution on this head. I know and lament, that there are crude and enthusiastic conceits entertained by some, who would have us believe that they are actuated by certain divine impulses, irrespective of the word as the medium of conveying them, and in despite of the vanity and folly which they themselves betray as their invariable result. But I trust, that not one word that I have spoken can be thought to have countenanced any such conceits as these. The written word is the medium by which the Spirit works, and the standard by which his agency must be tried: and, if his operations do not produce holiness, as well as light and comfort, they are no better than a delusion, a desperate and a fatal delusion. The offices of the Holy Spirit cannot be separated from each other. He is a Teacher, a Sanctifier, and a Comforter: and I advisedly place the office of a Sanctifier between the other two, because it is equally connected both with that which precedes, and with that which follows;—with that which precedes, as the end for which divine teaching is administered, and with that which follows, as that without which no true comfort can possibly exist. I entreat, then, that you will all look for the gift of the Holy Spirit, to impart to you these blessings: and, I declare before God, that no one of you will ever behold the face of God in peace, if you do not both desire and obtain the Holy Spirit for these ends. The word of God is immutable; “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”If any be disposed to deride the sacred influences of the Spirit, imputing to Satan, as it were, what is wrought by the Holy Ghost, let them beware of the sin against the Holy Ghost; for they tread close upon it, if they do not actually commit it. I would have them remember, that, in proportion to the light against which they offend, and the malignity with which they utter their scoffs, they approach this fatal sin: and, if once they do commit it, our blessed Lord declares, that “they shall never have forgiveness, either in this world, or in the world to come; and that they are therefore in danger of eternal damnation [Note: Matthew 12:32, and Mark 3:28-29.].”

On the other hand, if any have experienced the workings of the Holy Spirit to bring them to Christ, let them watch and pray against temptation and sin of every kind, lest by any open or secret declension from the ways of God, they “grieve [Note: Ephesians 4:30.]” and “vex the Holy Spirit [Note: Isaiah 63:10.],” and “quench” his sacred motions [Note: 1 Thessalonians 5:19.], and thus “their last end become worse than their beginning [Note: 2 Peter 2:20.].”

But “I hope better things of this assembly, though I thus speak [Note: Hebrews 6:9.].” Scoffers do not abound at this day as once they did. The truths of the Gospel are better understood, and its mysteries are more justly appreciated: and, provided only the deep things of God be stated with modesty and sobriety, they find a favourable acceptance now, where once, perhaps, they would only have provoked a smile. On that head, therefore, I feel no occasion to dwell. But this very circumstance, which renders a profession of piety more easy, makes the danger of departing from it more imminent; since, as in the case of the stony-ground hearers, that which is hastily received, is but too often as hastily relinquished [Note: Matthew 12:20-21.]. To every one of you then I say, “Hold fast that thou hast, that no man take thy crown [Note: Revelation 3:11.];” or rather, look to the Lord Jesus Christ for more enlarged “supplies of his Spirit [Note: Philippians 1:19.]:” for “He has received this gift for men, even for the most rebellious [Note: Psalms 68:18.]: and as “God has not given the Spirit by measure unto him [Note: John 3:34.],” so is there no measure fixed for the dispensation of it to us. It is our privilege, not only to “have the Spirit,” but to “be filled with the Spirit [Note: Ephesians 5:18.].” Many of you, I would hope, “have already received the first-fruits of the Spirit [Note: Romans 8:23.]:” but be not satisfied with these. “Christ came, not only that you might have life, but that you might have it more abundantly [Note: John 10:10.].” He has promised to “pour floods upon those who are thirsty [Note: Isaiah 44:3.].” Yes, he would have you to “live in the Spirit [Note: Galatians 5:25.],” and “walk in the Spirit [Note: Galatians 5:25.],” and “purify your souls by the Spirit [Note: 1 Peter 1:22.],” and “abound in hope through the Spirit [Note: Romans 15:13.]:” and be filled with “joy in the Holy Ghost [Note: Acts 13:52.].” See to it, then, that you avail yourselves of these immense advantages; and beg of God to “pour out his Spirit more and more abundantly upon you through Jesus Christ [Note: Titus 3:6.],” that, being “led in all things by the Spirit, ye may be, and give decisive evidence that ye are, the children of God [Note: Romans 8:14.].” And may “the Holy Spirit be so richly poured out upon us from on high, that this our wilderness may become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be so luxuriant as to be counted for a forest [Note: Isaiah 32:15.]!”